


Welcome to Parenthood

by MonPetitTresor



Series: When Winchesters Run the World [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels, Being the Good Son, Brotherhood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Heylel is Lucifer, Pancakes, Strained Relationships, angels and vessels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 04:28:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14370906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonPetitTresor/pseuds/MonPetitTresor
Summary: Sam wakes up and finds himself surrounded by four mother hens. What follows is a series of surprising and occasionally awkward conversations with a group of beings who have been around since time began, and who apparently insist on calling him 'Dad'





	1. Chapter 1

The feeling of his brother passing out in his arms was something that Dean had hoped he’d never again have to feel after they got their new promotions. Being God should mean you couldn’t do the more mundane things like passing out, right? Or getting hurt, for that matter. Yet, here they were, with Dean cradling Sam’s gigantor body against him as his brother passed out from what Dean was guessing was sheer exhaustion.

The fact that he could feel that Sam was fine, just tired, helped Dean to keep calm and not start to panic.

The same couldn’t be said for the two freshly reborn archangels. Or the other three that were waiting for them just outside the door.

Seeing Gabriel panic a little when Sam passed out was something that Dean would’ve had a lot of fun teasing the trickster for at one point in time. Anyone with _eyes_ could see how badly those two had flirted once upon a time. But Raphael? Michael? Lucifer? (No, not Lucifer, Heylel. He had to remember to start calling him Heylel or Sammy was gonna kick his ass.) Even Castiel looked like he was in a panic when Dean stepped out of the room with Sam still knocked out in his arms.

Gabriel and Raphael were right on Dean’s heels, stumbling a little as they adjusted to their new bodies and the whole ‘being alive’ thing. But Raphael had a hand on Sam’s leg like she couldn’t quite help herself, a worried line in her brow.

“What happened to him?” Lucifer – _Heylel, damnit! –_ demanded sharply as soon as he saw Sam.

The sound of his voice had Gabriel popping out from behind Dean. It was kind of impressive, the way his face darkened and his angel blade appeared in his hand. For a squirt, he could be intimidating if he wanted to be. “What’s _he_ doing here?”

Michael took a step forward, his eyes going a bit dark as they ran over Sam. Frustration showed around the edges a little. Dean was betting he was trying  to see with angelic eyes and was failing. “What has happened to Samuel?” Michael asked, eyes darting up to Dean’s face.

Castiel had no patience for any of them. He pushed his way past them all and went right to Sam’s face, cupping it between his hands and peering down at him. He was the only one that Dean didn’t feel the need to protest. Cas had been with them through plenty of the crap they’d gone through. He’d seen Sam and Dean both at their worst and had healed them of a good chunk of it. If any of these winged assholes had a right to step up right now, it’d be Castiel.

“He has exhausted himself,” Castiel said. His eyes lifted from Sam’s face and drifted back, to the other two archangels, and his eyebrows went up. “You two succeeded, then.”

Michael took notice of the other two for the first time. Either he recognized something about Gabriel’s vessel, or he was able to still sense just enough, because his eyes went wide as they darted from Gabriel to Raphael. “Gabriel? Raphael?”

It felt like everyone started talking at the same time then. Gabriel was still holding his angel blade and was trying to insert himself between Sam and Lucifer, a snarl on his face as he snapped out “Get back!” At the same time, Lucifer had both hands up, and he had that same look that Sammy always got when he was feeling guilty about something – and wasn’t that freaking strange to see on _Lucifer’s_ face?

While those two faced off, Raphael and Michael were facing one another, and neither looked all too sure about what was going on. “How are you here?” they were asking each other at almost the same time.

The air felt charged with energy. All it would take was a single spark and Dean knew that it’d set the whole thing off. Right then, it was the last thing he wanted. “All right, everyone listen up!” The sharp snap of Dean’s voice silenced any words that anyone might have said. All eyes were now on him. Dean packed in every bit of his ‘I’m the boss, you’re gonna listen to me’ tone that he’d learned from his father and perfected throughout the years, and he did what he was good at. He gave out orders.

“Right now, what Sam needs is a bed and a chance to sleep. He burned himself out a bit grabbing your asses from angel-afterlife,” Dean shot a glare at Gabriel and Raphael each that silenced them. “Whatever issues you guys have, they’re gonna have to wait, cause I’m not in the mood for ‘em. Now, Cas, Mike, go down an get his door open for me an his bed ready. Lucifer, you’ve got more experience being human, Sam says. You were in his head long enough. Go down to the kitchen and get some of that weird tea crap started that he likes. And you two,” he turned to look at Raphael and Gabriel and debated for a minute before huffing. “You two stick with me. I’m not having any fighting till I get Sammy settled.”

Surprisingly, everyone scrambled to do as they were told, each of them hurrying off. Dean shook his head at them all. Then he adjusted his grip around Sam – he couldn’t remember the last time this kid had felt this light to him, like lifting him was nothing at all – and started forward in the direction of their rooms. He walked, giving the others time to do what he’d asked.

Their reactions to one another weren’t all that surprising. Neither Michael nor Lucifer were aware of what Sam and Dean had been attempting, and Gabriel and Raphael hadn’t had a chance to get any answers before Sam passed out and Dean was carrying him out of there. They were going to have to have one huge talk, but damn if Dean was going to do that on his own. They could wait till Sammy woke up. He was always better at dealing with that crap!

When they reached Sam’s room, Michael and Castiel had it all ready for them. Sam’s blankets were turned down and there were extras piled on a chair nearby.

Even as Dean laid Sam carefully down on the bed, Castiel was there to help get Sam’s stupidly long legs settled in just right, and start removing his shoes.

It took just a minute to get Sam settled into bed. Once Dean was sure his brother was comfortable, and that he really was healing up fine already, he took a step back. Almost instantly the bed was swarmed by archangels.

Dean stood back and watched with raised eyebrows as the group of archangels all fluttered around Sam’s bed like a group of mother hens. They were checking his pillow, adjusting his blankets, and bickering quietly overtop of him. The only one who was a little bit calm was Castiel. He came to stand at Dean’s side and watch with him.

“Dude,” Dean murmured. “They do realize he’s gonna be fine, right? And for that matter, since when do they even _care_?”

“While they do not understand what is going on, they do recognize the power Sam holds. They see him for what he is now – our Father,” Castiel murmured back.

Huh. That was weird, and maybe just a little bit creepy.

Having Sam there seemed to be keeping them from fighting, though. Gabriel clearly wasn’t happy with the idea that Lucifer was there – and considering how it’d been the last time he saw his big brother, was it any wonder? – but he wasn’t protesting anymore. He kept eyeing Lucifer and Michael, who were working side by side. Raphael was mostly ignoring them all to lean over and place her hands over Sam’s chest and his head. A pale light glowed under her palms.

Where once Dean would’ve seen only white, he was able to see more now. He could see the deep, rich green that he found himself thinking suited her.

“Dean is right,” she finally said, drawing her hands back from Sam. “He is simply tired.”

Dean snorted at them. It reminded them all he was there and had their eyes all turning his way. He met their looks with a calm one of his own. “Told you.”

“He is still new to his power,” Castiel told them. “Both of you are. You are acclimating to your powers. What Sam did today stretched him beyond what he was ready for.”

“Maybe that will give us the time for someone to explain what exactly is going on here,” Michael demanded in a haughty tone.

That seemed to remind everyone of what else was going on, and it all started all over again, all the archangels talking over top of one another. Tempers and voices were raising and Dean could feel the power that was building in the room – a power that was making Sam twitch ever so slightly on the bed. Seeing that had Dean standing up straighter and glaring at them all. Like hell if he was going to let them wake up Sammy just because they were all too stupid to calm down and actually freaking _talk_.

A thought hit him, a memory of what angels and demons had done in the past, and Dean grinned as he lifted a hand and waved it over the room, a bit of power and thought behind the gesture.

It was freaking satisfying when the whole room went silent.

"Awesome," Dean said, grinning. Beside him, he actually _felt it_ as Castiel held in his own amusement. It didn’t show on his face, but it did in his grace, and in the slight twitch of those dark, gorgeous wings tucked against his back. Three pairs of them, to show that he was an archangel now, which had to be the best damn thing that Sammy had done with his powers so far.

The sound of shuffling and the feeling of impatience drew Dean away from his glance – _he wasn’t staring, no way, nuh uh! –_ towards Cas and brought his focus back to everyone else.

The four archangels were glaring at him. For the first time, Dean didn’t feel an ounce of fear. Not even with _Lucifer_ in here. They didn’t have the power here. _He did_. That knowledge allowed Dean to stand a little taller, and it brought a cocky grin to his lips. “All right, fellas. We’re gonna go over this once, and you’re gonna listen, cause I’m sure as hell not having this conversation again. Those of you that already know parts of it, shut up and deal.”

A hand on Dean’s arm cut him off. He looked over to find that Castiel had stepped away from the wall as well and was once more beside him. “Perhaps it would be easier if I explained things.”

Curious, Dean shrugged. If Castiel wanted to explain it, more power to him. He could have that fun.

With Dean’s permission, Castiel stepped forward to the foot of Sam’s bed – Raphael and Gabriel were on one side, Michael and Lucifer on the other – and he held his hands out to either side. Apparently that was some sort of angel sign or whatever. Not a one of them questioned it. Raphael and Lucifer both took Castiel’s hands, then reached out to the ones beside them. Even Gabriel and Michael reached out to one another across the bed, completing a perfect circle.

Grace swelled up around them once they were joined. It wasn’t enough to wake up Sammy, or even make him stir, thankfully. Once Dean saw that, he went back to focusing on what they were doing.

It only took him a second to figure it out. Castiel was using his grace to tell them, to _show them_ , what they’d missed. Not just that – he was showing it all from _their side_. The side of the humans and seraph that had fought their way through the Apocalypse and all the crap that came afterwards. From what Dean was able to pick up, Castiel had started from right before Stull, right before Sam’s swan dive, and was taking them through it all.

That kind of story would’ve taken hours and hours to be able to tell properly. With what Castiel was doing, it took just minutes.

By the time they broke apart, there wasn’t a face that wasn’t stunned or pained.

Dean dissolved the block on their voices with another thought.

He was surprised that it was Michael who spoke first. “Father.” He whispered the word like a prayer, a plea. The light inside of his suppressed grace looked dimmer than it’d been before. As he let go of his siblings, he bowed his head.

At his side, Lucifer didn’t seem to be doing any better, though his showed differently. He showed his pain like… well, like Sam, though Dean didn’t like thinking of that. Instead of bowing under it, or ducking down like the weight of the world was on his shoulders the way that Michael was, Lucifer stood a little taller, his spine straight and shoulders squared. He held himself like the weight was there, but he wasn’t going to buckle under it. The way he stood, the careful mask over his features, that brief closing of his eyes and the steady breath he took before he opened them again, all of it spoke of someone who was far too used to carrying pain. It was a look Dean had seen on Sam too many times to count. More than he liked, really.

Seeing it on Lucifer now made Dean’s chest ache for the being he’d told himself he wasn’t ever going to trust or feel sorry for. But in that moment, as Lucifer’s eyes slanted over to Sam’s face, as everything about him softened and then straightened up even more like he’d gained strength in that look, Dean could see a hint of the Heylel that Sam spoke of.

Raphael’s hands were fisted in the blankets at the edge of the bed and her expression was tight. Her wings were twitching like they ached to curl in around something or someone.

But Gabriel reacted worst of all. He’d turned himself towards Sam’s head the instant that they all let go of one another, and if there’d been any doubt in Dean’s mind before about the trickster having a crush on his brother, they would’ve been gone now. The way he was looking at Sam made it clear just how much he was hurting inside.

It only lasted for an instant. Between one breath and the next, Gabriel was gone.

Dean stared at the space where Gabriel had just been. He knew the trickster wasn’t far; a quick feel around him told Dean that he’d just gone out of the room, down to the library. That was fine. This was a lot to thrust on someone freshly back. Besides, if Sam weren’t in here, Dean would’ve already been gone, too. But there was no way he was leaving all these assholes alone with his brother.

“Well,” Dean said into the awkward silence. “Aren’t we just one big happy family?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up was a strange feeling for Sam. There was no steady drifting, no gradual wake up like he was used to. Nor was there a wake up that was full of adrenaline, as there could be on hunts, or after being knocked out. One moment he was unconscious, and the next he was awake.

What was even stranger, however, was what he woke up to.

There was plenty of grace in the room around him, as well as the feel of his brother’s power, and voices were grumbling at one another. Because of that, Sam wasn’t surprised to open his eyes and find that everyone was gathered in the room – his room, it looked like. What  _was_  surprising was that the four original archangels were all gathered around Sam’s bed like they were on some sort of vigil.

All conversation cut off as Sam opened his eyes.

The very first thought Sam had was a very clear  _What the fuck?_  There was a woman’s face right in front of his, with eyes that reminded Sam a whole lot of Gabriel. It took just a second for his brain to connect those dots and remember the vessel that he’d crafted for Raphael. Her grace showed clearly now that he blinked his eyes a few times and cleared them the rest of the way. He’d just forgotten what the vessel he’d made for her had looked like.

“There you are,” she murmured to him. The steady, warm tone combined with the gentle look that she wore was so at odds with the Raphael that the Winchesters had once known. However, it matched up with what Sam’s grace remembered. This was Raphael, as she was supposed to be. “Welcome back, Father.”

Any hopes Sam had of trying to speak all vanished at the use of that one word. Father?  _Father??_

Dean, the asshole that he was, was laughing without any hint of shame to it. Even Heylel looked a little amused, like he could read what Sam was thinking. But Gabriel’s reaction was the  _worst_. As Raphael straightened back up, Gabriel came into view, and he didn’t hesitate to waggle his eyebrows and grin the instant he caught Sam’s gaze. “Well now… this is a Daddy kink in the making.”

Color flooded Sam’s cheeks. Raphael, Michael, and even Heylel all snapped their heads in Gabriel’s direction, each one of them saying his name with a different degree of shock or surprise in it. At the same time, it had the added benefit of cutting off Dean’s laughter and changing it to an “Oh, dude!  _Gross_!”

“Oooh, surround sound scolding.” Gabriel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in what was probably supposed to be amusement, but came off looking a bit defensive. So did the little twitch and inward curl of the beautiful golden wings at his back. “Been a while since I’ve heard that.”

All eyes were on Gabriel, very few of them happy, and it wasn’t hard for Sam to feel just how uncomfortable it made the trickster-archangel. Sam didn’t have to think about it; before he even knew what he was planning to do, he was pushing his hands against the bed and moving up out of a sitting position.

As he’d expected, and hoped for, it caught the attention of the others. The instant Sam started to move, hands were there to help him. Gabriel managed to dart back forward quickly, catching hold of Sam’s shoulder before he was an inch off the bed, and Michael moved at the same time to clasp Sam’s other shoulder. They braced him up as Sam finally rose upwards enough to at least sit up while talking to them all.

Despite the weirdness of having these hovering mother-hens around him – and screw Dean, who just stood there and smirked and didn’t do a damn thing to stop them! – Sam made sure his voice wasn’t rude as he told them “I’m all right, guys. I feel fine.”

“You overworked your powers,” Raphael told him. Her voice was a cross between concerned and stern; it was an interesting combo. “They’re still far too new. You might be God, but you’re new, and you’re young, and where you reached is a place older than Creation.”

Yeah, he’d figured that out himself pretty quickly. But as Sam looked at the two that he’d brought back with him, he knew one thing. “It was worth it.”

Raphael’s grace warmed at Sam’s comment until it felt like the first touch of summer. Beside her, Gabriel’s whole expression went soft, his eyes softening to melted gold, and his grace was like the breeze that went with Raphael’s warm summer day.

He shook his head against his own thoughts; typically he didn’t tend to fall on the fanciful side of things. It just… it seemed to suit them, in his head.

Out of the corner of his eye Sam caught sight of Heylel slowly starting to edge his way away from the bed. He had a look on his face that was a bit aching. Even his grace, pressed down though it was, showed the heartache that the archangel was feeling. Sam reacted to it without even thinking. He used a curl of power to hold Heylel in place and keep him from escaping. Then, he turned to his brother just enough to be able to catch his gaze.

Dean and Sam connected eyes and Sam could see that his brother understood what he wanted. With a small, barely-there nod, Dean pushed off the wall and straightened up. “Come on, guys. We’re gonna go get some food before we start talking about whatever the hell else needs done. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starved.”

“You don’t actually need food for sustenance anymore, Dean,” Castiel pointed out to him even as he made to follow.

“Dude! You’re thinking about it all wrong. I might not need it – but now I can eat whatever I want, an Sammy can’t bitch about my arteries or whatever anymore!”

With a practiced ease, Dean managed to sweep up everyone with him – everyone except Heylel. He tried only once to move and realized almost instantly that Sam was holding him there. After that, he kept perfectly in place, not even trying to walk away. He stood there, hands folded behind his back, and waited quietly as everyone left.

Gabriel was the last to go; he cast a worried look Sam’s way, not seeming reassured by the small smile that Sam gave him. He went, though, shutting the door behind him.

Conscious of the ones capable of listening in, Sam waved a hand over the room and willed a shield around them, imagining something that would keep them hidden and prevent anyone from listening. The last thing they needed was someone trying to pay attention to this conversation. Whatever was going on, it was serious. Serious enough to have Heylel feeling like he shouldn’t be here, and to have him shying away from Sam now.

As soon as he was sure they were alone, the younger Winchester turned to look right at Heylel, and he let go of the power holding him in place. “Heylel… what’s wrong?”

“You’re the one lying in a bed, and yet you ask me that?”

The dry, cool tone only had Sam even more worried. He drew his legs out from under the blanket and turned himself so that he was facing Heylel. “What’s going on?”

There was a moment of indecision on Heylel’s face. A brief second in which Sam wasn’t sure if he was actually going to talk or if he’d try and leave. Then Sam watched as Heylel drew his shoulders up and let them drop back down on a sigh, dropping his masks as he did. Pain and grief were written all over his face and in every inch of his body. He didn’t hide any of it. Even his eyes looked so old and so sad in that moment. “We… communed, I believe you would call it. Castiel caught everyone up on… everything. It isn’t easy to watch all of your mistakes played out for you again like that. Especially not… not from the view of the ones that you hurt as you did it.”

 _Oh_. So that was how they’d caught everyone up. With Heylel’s words, there was also his thoughts, clear as day to Sam. He was able to see just what Castiel had done to catch all of them up and put them on the same page.  _Dammit, Cas. And you too, Dean! Did you seriously have to pick the worst possible way to do this??_  Even Dean’s usual bluntness would’ve been better!

They were supposed to be helping Michael and Heylel learn a lesson and heal. Not shove their mistakes in their faces and beat them down a little more.

“Heylel…”

To Sam’s utter shock, Heylel moved forward suddenly, coming right towards him. Only, when he reached the bed, he surprised Sam even more by sliding down to his knees. It left Sam gaping down at him in open shock.  _What the hell?_

“What Castiel did… I was reminded of the things I’ve done. To you, specifically. And yet you… you did this for me. You brought back my brother and my sister, at great personal risk to yourself.” A soft shudder ran down Heylel and he ducked his head lower, eyes on the floor, his body in a position of surrender that Sam would’ve never expected to see on him. Never would’ve expected him to even know how to do. “I owe you everything.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Sam hurried to say.

Heylel shook his head. “I owe you my life… Father.” He gave another small tremble before Sam could visibly see as he firmed himself up. See it as pride strengthened him and had him lifting his chin, his eyes coming up to meet Sam’s. “I knelt once and offered this to another, and he threw me down for refusing to do it for anyone but him. He wanted me to worship humans, to love them, more than I loved him, and I never believed that was possible.”

Sam swore his voice got stuck somewhere in his throat. “ _Heylel_.”

“I’m offering it to you now. In the short time you’ve had His power, you’ve done more for me, showed more care for me, than anyone has since the beginning. You didn’t throw me away for the mistakes I made, even though you would’ve had every right after what I did to you. Instead, you helped me, you  _healed_  me, and you gave me another chance. A chance to prove myself. You’ve shown me more care than He ever has.” Heylel didn’t look afraid now. He looked strong, and sure, and so very certain. “You have my loyalty, Father, and my faith and love, for whatever worth it is from a broken archangel.”

It felt like something hot and heavy was caught in Sam’s throat. Like his heart had climbed up there and taken up residence. Part of him wanted to brush this off – what did he do to deserve this? Him, the boy with the demon blood, the boy who’d almost ended the world, the one that had been known as the  _abomination_ for so long. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t brush away the kind of gift that Heylel had just given him.

Sam, probably better than anyone else out there, knew just what it meant for Heylel to be doing this. His grace told him of who Heylel had once been, and Sam himself knew of who Lucifer had been. He’d seen this being at his best and his worst. He’d healed his grace, touched every inch of it, and knew him on a level that Sam could honestly say he’d never known another. They were connected by so much. By pain, by being archangel and true vessel, by strife, and now by Sam’s new power.

There was only one thing that Sam could do here. One thing that felt right.

Following his instinct, he reached out and cupped Heylel’s face in his palms, cradled the one that he knew he could’ve easily hated – had, in fact, already hated so much before – and he smiled down at him. “It’s worth plenty. This – you – that’s worth so much, Heylel.  _You_  are worth so much. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Even confined the way that it was, Sam was sure he’d never seen Heylel’s grace shine brighter.

* * *

They found the others all in the kitchen. There were pancakes, though Sam saw no evidence of anyone having cooked. Gabriel and Raphael were standing at the counter and Gabriel was shoving plates and silverware at his sister, wo looked both amused and resigned to her position. Dean and Castiel were getting out coffee, while Michael sat stiffly over at the table, more than a little unsure about this whole situation.

They were a rather awkward bunch. A medley of different personalities stuffed down into one room. Sam took a deep breath before he nudged Heylel forward and followed him the rest of the way into the room.

Michael’s eyes found them first. He looked to his brother – a gesture Sam thought was rather telling, especially since there was no anger or animosity in that look – and then to Sam. While the look he was giving Sam wasn’t anywhere near the devotion that Heylel had just shown, which was hidden now that they were back amongst others, it was something just a little too reverent for Sam’s comfort.

He had no idea why it was he could accept it from Heylel, yet seeing a hint of it on Michael’s face was weird.

“There you are!” Gabriel called out, beaming at Sam. He completely ignored Heylel, who slipped back from Sam’s side and moved to join Michael – a surprising move. The trickster-archangel came over with his own stack of plates while Raphael followed behind. “You got good timing, kiddo. We were just serving up.”

A strangled noise came from Michael’s direction. “ _Gabriel_.” The oldest of the archangels looked disbelievingly at Gabriel. “You cannot call our… call  _Him_ …  _kiddo_.”

Dean snorted and deliberately elbowed Sam as he went past. “Why not? Nicer than what I call him.” Amusement curved his lips and he shot Sam a smug look. “Bitch.”

“Jerk,” Sam replied instinctively.

This time, even Heylel cracked a smile at the noise that Michael made.

Rolling his eyes, Sam ignored the way that Dean was laughing, or how Gabriel was grinning, and made his way to join where everyone was congregating at the table. A table which was bigger than he remembered it being. It was good time, too, because Dean set down the last of what he was carrying and clapped his hands together, loudly declaring “All right, losers. Let’s eat!”

Sam reached out with a little tendril of grace and poked at his brother’s darkness.  _Classy, Dean._

He felt his brother startle, and then felt him adapt to it just as easily as he’d been adapting to everything else.  _You know you love it. How’d your little talk with the devil go?_

 _Heylel_ , Sam sent back firmly.  _His name is Heylel, Dean. And it went fine._  He sat down at the table, Heylel to his right, and somehow wasn’t all that surprised that Gabriel took the seat to his left. It Sam and Dean right across from one another, with Michael across from Heylel, Castiel across from Gabriel, and Raphael on the end.

Thank God for small blessings; it seemed like not even death had impeded Gabriel’s ability to babble. Even as everyone started to serve up their food – Heylel, Michael, and Raphael taking cues from the others on what to do – Gabriel was peppering Castiel with questions and light teasing, drawing Raphael in at the same time. He hadn’t gone so far as to include the other two archangels, but he did exclude them, either.

It left Sam and Dean free to continue their silent conversation. Sam used their connection to show Dean what had happened back in the bedroom. He could easily feel Dean’s surprise in response.  _Seriously?_  Dean sent back.  _Shit, Sammy. You know, I was joking about the whole ‘Dad’ thing before, but it’s starting to look like they’re not. I think you just gained yourself a metric shit ton of kids._

Sam grimaced and looked down at the pancakes that he didn’t remember putting on his plate.  _Don’t remind me_.

“So,” Gabriel said, drawing the word out enough that it caught everyone’s attentions. All eyes were on Gabriel as he lazily cut off a piece of his pancake, ran it through the pile of syrup he had, and then popped it into his mouth. “Cassie’s little catch-up gave us the highlight reel of the latest and greatest these past few years, an everything he knows about this whole Dad and Amara business, but no one’s mentioned Heaven or Hell. Or, y’know, why Raphi and I here got brought back. An judging by the way Angel Radio is screaming, I’m guessing no one’s taken a trip upstairs yet.”

“We been a bit busy with some things,” Dean said, not in the least bit bothered by Gabriel’s tone. He was eating his own pancakes quite happily. “Between getting phenomenal cosmic powers, the British bitch in the dungeon, dealing with these two chuckleheads over here,” he gestured with this thumb to Michael and Heylel, “and meeting with Death, we’ve kinda had our hands full.”

“Oh, yeah, I can see how busy you are.” Gabriel looked down at Dean’s plate and then back up at his face.

That had the potential to devolve rather quickly into the kind of argument Sam really didn’t want to listen to. Before it could, they were cut off by Michael. “You have yet to visit Heaven?” He looked stunned by the idea; like it hadn’t occurred to him that they wouldn’t have gone.

Dean arched an eyebrow at Michael. It was his look that clearly asked  _Are you insane_? “Why the hell would we be jumping to go there? You guys managed without Chuck. I think they can manage without us for a few freaking day.”

“Every angel in Heaven will have felt the power surge of your creation, not to mention the one from resurrecting Gabriel and Raphael. Undoubtedly, they’ll have questions.”

“Oh, they got questions,” Gabriel interjected. “Plenty of questions. They haven’t stopped screaming about it. I’m just curious what you fellas plan on doing about it. Cause if you brought me back just to go up there, you’ve got another thing coming, kiddo.” He turned to Sam for this, and though his smirk was playful, his eyes were sharp. “I’m not stepping in to clean up dear old Dad’s mess. You took this job, you get the mess to go with it.”

It was hard for Sam not to squirm under that look. Mostly because he knew Gabriel was right. This was Sam’s job now, whether he’d agreed to take it on or not. Chuck had left the whole of the universe, if Sam had understood Dean right. There was no way he was going to step in and help. That meant that it was on Sam. Sighing, he pushed a bit of hair back from his face. “I didn’t bring you back to put you to work in Heaven. If you want to go home, that’s up to you. If not, I’m not gonna force you.”

“So you brought us back for, what? Shits and giggles?” Gabriel asked

Raphael reached a hand out and laid it on her brother’s arm. “Gabriel, let him eat.”

Sam opened his mouth, not quite sure what it was he was going to say, or how he was going to explain this, when Heylel spoke up first. “I requested it.” All eyes turned Heylel’s way, and he had his chin up and gaze steady, not backing down or flinching. He turned to look down at Gabriel and Raphael. “I requested he try to bring you back. I know it makes up for nothing, and I’m not expecting that it will.”

“Good. Because it doesn’t,” Gabriel shot back.

Pain flashed through Heylel’s eyes. It was quickly masked. “I know. I know that you hate me; rightfully so. Having you alive again was enough for me.”

The air at the table was thick enough with tension that Sam felt like he could lift his knife and cut through it. It didn’t help that he was directly between the two. Uncomfortable, and unsure, Sam cleared his throat and deliberately leaned forward just enough to block the two from seeing one another. Heylel’s pain was easy to feel, as was Gabriel’s, but Sam getting in the middle at least broke the stare-off.

In that moment, Raphael became Sam’s favorite. She spoke like there wasn’t an ounce of tension and drew them back on topic. “Does that mean that you plan on going to Heaven yourself, Father? The angels sound like they could use some direction. They’ve been without leadership for longer than they ever have before.”

This topic wasn’t too much better. But it wasn’t one that Sam was going to be able to avoid. He cut his pancake and tried not to sigh again. “Yeah. I was planning on going once we got everything settled here.” He’d hoped to have some archangels behind him. Now it looked like he was only going to have one, maybe two, if Castiel came.

“Like I said, they’ve managed without Chuck,” Dean said. “I’m sure they’ll be fine without Sammy for a bit.” A little bit of Dean’s darkness reached out and brushed against Sam the same way they usually brushed their shoulders together in silent support of one another. He knew just how bad it was going to be for Sam to go up there.

Michael grimaced lightly and gave Sam what looked to be a sympathetic look. It was kind of strange seeing it on his face. “The longer you put it off, the more distressed they’ll become.”

“An you think they won’t be when  _I_  show up?” Sam blurted out before he could stop himself. He dropped his head down a bit and unconsciously hunched his shoulders, all the while poking at his food without eating it. “Angels aren’t exactly my biggest fans, and they’ve never been shy about letting me know it.” If they weren’t flat out ignoring him, the way they looked at him like he was a squashed bug on the bottom of their shoe was a pretty good indicator of how they felt about him.

“You were appointed by our Father to take over,” Michael said, much more calm now. Much more  _sure_. “They cannot argue with that. You are the rightful ruler of Heaven. “It is not for them to argue. It’s for them to  _obey_.”

Dean’s loud snort echoed around the table. He turned his head enough to shoot a dry, mocking look over at Michael. “And that, dude, is why you’re still a human.”

“In case you didn’t catch the hint during the Apocalypse-that-wasn’t, these guys aren’t exactly all about the whole ‘do what you’re told’ thing,” Gabriel pointed out.

“We believe in Free Will,” Castiel said. It was the first time he’d spoke in a little while, and his voice was calm and steady, not an ounce of doubt in there. He’d come a long way from the seraph they’d first met who hadn’t dared question anything. Now he sat there with his four oldest brothers and wasn’t backing down an inch as he explained to them about free will. “While I believe angels are not inherently made to accept free will as easily as humans, we can become capable of it. I confess, I’m quite eager to see what will become of our family as they learn and grow with this concept.”

Sam stared down at his plate and held in the sigh that ached to get free. They were all right, he knew. Even Dean was. Heaven could wait – it wouldn’t hurt them to wait a little longer. But Michael was also right in that waiting would only make things worse in the long run.

There was no way Sam was going to be able to put off going to Heaven. Nor was he going to be able to sit here and finish his pancakes, knowing what waited for him. What he was going to have to do.

A hand on his leg startled Sam out of his thoughts. He looked over to find that Heylel was smiling reassuringly at him, and Sam couldn’t help but smile back.

If Heylel had found the strength to come and kneel at Sam’s feet and prostate himself that way, saying things that Sam knew had to have been hard for him, than how could Sam do anything less?

Drawing in a deep breath, Sam met his brother’s eyes across the table. This was what he needed to do.

Without wasting another moment, Sam did the only thing that made sense. He blew out his breath and vanished from the table.

 


End file.
